Athletes appeal ruling that allows CT athletic association to abolish girls-only sports

ADF attorneys represent high school female athletes forced to compete against biological males

HARTFORD, Conn. – Four Connecticut female athletes have appealed a federal district court ruling issued last month that dismissed their legal challenge to a Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference policy allowing biological males who identify as female to compete in girls’ athletic events.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the athletes in Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools filed a notice of appeal Wednesday to challenge the policy before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. Since 2017, males have consistently deprived Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, Alanna Smith, and Ashley Nicoletti of honors and opportunities to compete at elite levels. Mitchell, for example, would have won the 2019 state championship in the women’s 55-meter indoor track competition, but because two males took first and second place, she was denied the gold medal. Soule, Smith, and Nicoletti likewise have been denied medals and/or advancement opportunities.

“All female athletes deserve access to fair competition; that means authentically equal opportunities to compete, achieve, and win. But competition is no longer fair when males are permitted to compete in girls’ sports,” said ADF Legal Counsel Christiana Holcomb. “Males will always have inherent physical advantages over comparably talented and trained girls. Those differences are why we have girls’ sports in the first place. Unfortunately, the district court chose to ignore our clients’ demoralizing experiences of losing to male runners, so we have appealed to the 2nd Circuit. These committed female athletes—and young women across the country—deserve better. In this particular case, the conversation centers on Connecticut’s high school track-and-field program, but something bigger is at stake here: Girls and women deserve opportunities that are truly equal—without being sidelined or dominated by males choosing to join their sport.”

As a result of the CIAC’s policy, two males were permitted to compete in girls’ athletic competitions beginning in the 2017 track season. Between them, they have taken 15 women’s state championship titles (titles held in 2016 by nine different Connecticut girls) and have taken more than 85 opportunities to participate in higher level competitions from female track athletes in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons alone.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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